Village trustees hear feedback on Century Blvd. redevelopment

Village Trustee Matt Hartzog showing members of the Millerton community the Tighe & Bond map of Century Boulevard.
Photo by Colleen Flynn
Village Trustee Matt Hartzog showing members of the Millerton community the Tighe & Bond map of Century Boulevard.
MILLERTON — On Saturday, Feb. 1, a public information meeting was held to discuss the “complete street” plan for Century Boulevard.
Village of Millerton trustees Matthew Hartzog and David Sherman have been involved with the preparation of forming the new look along Century Boulevard.
“Matt Hartzog and I have been involved in relative to those boards and work that we do to see what we can do with Century Boulevard,” said Sherman, “We realize that in order to proceed into the future, we really need to have a good plan that everyone, most everyone, likes.”
The Village of Millerton is working with Tighe & Bond for this project, an engineering, landscape architecture, planning and environmental science consultant company.
Brandee Nelson, Vice-President at Tighe & Bond, ran the meeting with a presentation including renderings of what the Boulevard could potentially look like with their plans, as well as taking advice from local residents.
“I myself am a civil engineer with a land use planning and development background, and we’re here today to start a conversation,” said Nelson, “We’re here to talk about the community’s vision for Century Boulevard.”
According to Sherman, the Village has received funding from the Berkshire Taconic Northeast Dutchess Fund and from Hudson River Valley Greenway in their community planning funds, which will go toward the cost of this street renovation.
“From the 2018 Millerton Pedestrian Plan, one of the future projects in that plan was to re-envision Century Boulevard and make it a complete street,” Nelson said. “A complete street is serving a variety of needs to the community. There’s pedestrian movement along that street. We know we have limited sidewalks out here, parking, trees, perhaps lighting, perhaps stormwater management, there could be a lot of different things in a complete street.”
Nelson noted the importance of parking on Century Boulevard and how this plan can help pedestrians get to the shops in the Village safely. She also said planners need to lay out a certain number of handicap accessibility spots, electric vehicle chargers and also provide a crosswalk in their “complete street.”
Century Boulevard’s width ranges from 70 feet to 93 feet, which surpasses the average street width of 50 feet, according to Nelson. Though the extra room allows more offerings to be installed, keeping up with that much pavement can be continually costly.
“We want to think, ‘Can we accommodate some green space there? How can we allocate this space in a way that is economical for operation and maintenance in the future?’” Nelson said. “Look how big that paved area is and that it doesn’t have any kind of organizational framework. There’s no striping. Not even a center line striping ... The day we were down here, people were kind of parked everywhere, and they were parked at different depths. We should think about how we can organize a little bit better.”
A concerned resident brought up an issue of tractor trailers going in and out of Harrington’s.
“That’s why it’s 90 [feet wide] there, to make that turn. When they come in, they sit there until they can back in,” the resident said. “There’s nobody to back them in and there’s a car behind them, they have to wait until someone comes out to help.”
After a handful of community members agreed with this worry, Nelson expressed an interest in reaching out to Harrington’s specifically to help in finding a solution.
“We are going to take the information that you’ve shared with us today and go back and develop two concept plans for the complete street,” Nelson said. “We will come back and hold a second meeting, and we are hoping to do that in early March time frame, where we will take more feedback from that.”
After the second public information meeting, they will turn the community’s ideas into a preferred plan to present to the Village board, which is planned for April. This will show the specific cost plans and the ballpark of the low and high cost production.
“We’re not talking about changing the street in the next two years,” said Nelson. “We’re probably about changing the street in the next five years, if we are successful in getting the grant funds.”
The meeting ended with a table exercise of residents and community members writing on maps of the street, stating how they use the area or what they would like to see in the future.
“Feel free to mark them up,” Nelson said. “I’m happy to take notes from anyone who’s got thoughts on how this road can be used better.”
Dozens of people crowded into the courthouse at the Washington Town Hall on Reservoir Drive in Millbrook on Tuesday, Oct. 7, to watch a pre-application meeting between Planning Board members and representatives of Centaur Properties LLC. David Blatt and Henry Hay of Centaur Properties LLC described their plan to build an 18-hole golf course with limited membership and residences on the historic 2,000-acre Hitchcock estate.
"This is nothing like Silo Ridge," said Centaur Properties co-founder Henry Hay. "This is Buckingham Palace to a craphouse. It's completely different. It's much higher quality."
MILLBROOK — Dozens of residents of the Town of Washington packed into the courtroom in Town Hall on Reservoir Drive for a standing-room-only regular meeting of the Planning Board on Tuesday, Oct. 7.
Well over three-quarters of the crowd were there to listen in to a pre-application meeting between Planning Board members and representatives of Centaur Properties LLC, a New York City-based development company that’s proposing an 18-hole golf course, equestrian facilities and luxury residential development on the 2,000-acre Hitchcock estate.
A pre-application meeting, Planning Board Chair Susan Meaney explained before beginning the discussion, allows developers or anyone with a potential project to meet with the Planning Board and ask questions about the planning and zoning process prior to submitting an application.
“This is not a public hearing,” Meaney said. “That doesn’t mean that you can’t let your voices be heard. If you have opinions about what gets said here tonight or what the potential proposal might be you can certainly write letters to the Planning Board.”
Henry Hay and David Blatt are the men behind Centaur Properties’ proposal for the Hitchcock estate. Blatt began the discussion by expressing his and Hay’s desire to have an open dialogue with the community.
“It goes without saying this is an incredible piece of property — an incredibly large piece of property,” Blatt said. “It deserves a responsible and thoughtful steward and our hope is that we can bring that level of stewardship that the property deserves and the level of attention to detail and care that this property needs.”
Following was a description of the project centered around an 18-hole golf course that Blatt and Hay said was essential to the development.
“Our ideas on our project are to create a world class golf course, clubhouse — limited membership,” Blatt said.
Additionally, the developers expressed a desire to construct a spa, equestrian facilities, trails, housing and to conserve a portion of the estate.
Planning Board members then began a back-and-forth with the developers, asking the two men for more specific details about their proposal. One of Meaney’s first questions centered around private membership.
“We’re going to have a very, very small membership,” Hay said. “Maybe 300 people.”
That response prompted board member Nicole Drury to clarify if the proposal is more akin to a private golf club or a gated luxury housing development of the likes of the Discovery Land Company’s Silo Ridge Field Club in Amenia — a gated luxury subdivision in Amenia with an 18-hole golf course and other amenities.
“This is nothing like Silo Ridge,” Hay said in response. “This is Buckingham Palace to a craphouse. It’s completely different. It’s much higher quality.”
Later on in the meeting, Planning Board member Eric Alexander again drew comparisons between Centaur’s proposal and the nearby Silo Ridge Field Club in Amenia, which he called a “bad situation for that community.” He cited a perception of exclusivity within the luxury housing development that has put off the surrounding Amenia community.
But Hay wouldn’t elaborate on the distinctions between the Hitchcock estate proposal and Silo Ridge Field Club. "This is nothing like Silo Ridge," Hay maintained. "We don't want that."
Environmental conservation was central to the board members’ concerns, prompting conflicting responses from Blatt and Hay about the amount of open space that will be left after development.
“At least 50%,” Hay said before Blatt cut him off.
“I think 25 to 50% is kind of a good estimate,” Blatt said, correcting his colleague. “We would love to put aside as much as possible.”
The pre-application meeting ended shortly after input from the Planning Board’s attorney, Hannah Atkinson of Van DeWater & Van DeWater out of Poughkeepsie, and Meaney that not much more could be said about the proposal until something concrete has been submitted to the board.
“There’s a code so you can be working within the framework of what’s expected in these different zones,” Atkinson said of the town’s zoning code, and urged the developers to read the code and use it and the town’s comprehensive plan to guide them in designing the project. “You’re not going to be 180 degrees off what the board is expecting if you follow the provisions of the code.”
As of press time, the sale of the Hitchcock estate has not been finalized. The property was listed for sale in Summer 2024 for $75 million.
Built in 1820, 1168 Bangall Amenia Road sold for $875,000 on July 31 with the transfer recorded in August. It has a Millbrook post office and is located in the Webutuck school district.
STANFORD — The Town of Stanford with nine transfers in two months reached a median price in August of $573,000 for single family homes, still below Stanford’s all-time median high in August 2024 of $640,000.
At the beginning of October there is a large inventory of single-family homes listed for sale with only six of the 18 homes listed for below the median price of $573,000 and seven above $1 million.
July transfers
79 Ernest Road — 4 bedroom/2.5 bath home on 6.87 acres in 2 parcels sold to Matthew C. Marinetti for $1,225,000.
29 Drake Road — 3 bedroom/3.5 bath home on 2 acres sold to Harper Montgomery for $850,000.
6042 Route 82 — 4 bedroom/2 bath home on 1.09 acres sold to Spencer Thompson for $795,000.
125 Tick Tock Way — 3 bedroom/2.5 bath ranch on 1.9 acres sold to Fleur Touchard for $475,000.
August transfers
102 Prospect Hill Road — 3 bedroom/2 bath home on 6.35 acres sold to Karl Creighton Pfister for $565,000.
252 Ernest Road — 2 bedroom/1 bath cottage on .85 acres sold to Meg Bumie for $465,000.
1196 Bangall Amenia Road — 4 bedroom/2.5 bath home on 2.16 acres sold to Roderick Alleyne for $875,000.
Hunns Lake Road (#759929) — 59.1 acres of residential land sold to Argos Farm LLC for $3,325,000.
* Town of Stanford recorded real estate transfers from July 1 to August 31 provided by Dutchess County Real Property Office monthly transfer reports. Details on each property from Dutchess Parcel Access - properties with an # indicate location on Dutchess Parcel Access. Market data from One Key MLS and Infosparks .Compiled by Christine Bates, Real Estate Advisor with William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty, Licensed in Connecticut and New York.
Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office Harlem Valley area activity reportSept. 18 to Sept. 30.
Sept. 23 — Deputies responded to 1542 State Route 292 in the Town of Pawling for the report of a suspicious vehicle at that location. Investigation resulted in the arrest of Sebastian Quiroga, age 26, for aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in the third degree. Quiroga to appear in the Town of Pawling court at a later date.
Sept. 30 — Deputies responded to Woodside Street in the Town of Pine Plains for a past-occurred verbal domestic dispute between a stepfather and stepson.Matter resolved without further police intervention.
PLEASE NOTE:All subjects arrested and charged are alleged to have committed the crime and are presumed innocent until proven guilty and are to appear in local courts later.
If you have any information relative to the aforementioned criminal cases, or any other suspected criminal activity please contact the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office tip line at 845-605-CLUE (2583) or Emaildcsotips@gmail.com.All information will be kept confidential.
Hunt club members and friends gathered near Pugsley Hill at the historic Wethersfield Estate and Gardens in Amenia for the opening meet of the 2025-2026 Millbrook Hunt Club season on Saturday, Oct. 4. Foxhunters took off from Wethersfield’s hilltop gardens just after 8 a.m. for a hunting jaunt around Amenia’s countryside.